The present invention relates generally to a rating system that for gathering consumer feedback in order to rate businesses according to predetermined criteria. The ratings information developed thereby is made available to members of the consuming public to allow them to make a selection of a local business based upon the customer satisfaction experiences of others. More particularly, the invention relates to a method, and a system for implementing that method, for updating the ratings on a real-time or near real-time basis, based on specific, verified transactions between consumers and businesses.
When searching for a local service (i.e., anything from dentistry to window replacement to legal advice), the consuming public is often faced with a daunting array of choices. It is believed that approximately $2 trillion is spent annually with six million or so service companies now doing business in America. Thus, searching through the available services to find that one that best satisfies one's needs and expectations is not an easy task. One solution is to use the familiar “Yellow Pages” for a list of unselective self-promotions of various businesses and service providers. A better approach would be the recommendation of a friend or acquaintance, but this provides only a small sampling of satisfied (or not so satisfied) customers of the business in question.
Another alternative has been to turn to those who make available evaluations and surveys through magazines, ranking various businesses and services according to predetermined criteria. One such evaluation system provides a rating scheme in which a satisfaction value is obtained through a sampling of a business' customers. Coupled with the satisfaction value so developed from the sampling is and investigation that checks to ensure that the business in question has proper and appropriate “documentation” (i.e., licenses, insurance, and the like). Those businesses meeting a predetermined criteria of customer satisfaction and proper documentation are “certified,” and lists of the certified companies are then made available to the consuming public, either in hard copy (e.g., a magazine) or via a Web page (see, e.g., http://valuestar.com). In addition, the certified businesses are subjected to annual follow-up checks to ensure that they still meet the criteria necessary for retention of the certification. Those who have let their customer satisfaction slip below a certain level are removed.
However, the time-lapse between the annual follow-up checks of a certified business can present a problem. Businesses previously certified may become inattentive or otherwise not perform up to an expected level, thereby letting its customer satisfaction drop. Until the business is reevaluated it is still identified as being certified, keeping the customer satisfaction value it obtained prior to its slide, thereby misleading consumers.
Other ratings systems exist whereby consumers can register their opinions about particular service businesses over the Internet. Unfortunately, these systems allow consumers to volunteer ratings for businesses not recently, or indeed never, used by the particular consumer. Still other electronic ratings systems are tied to specific “e-commerce” transactions over the Internet. However, most local businesses reside in the “bricks and mortar” world. Accordingly, a system for tracking e-commerce transactions cannot possibly offer a statistically significant rating that is tied to verifiable transactions between consumers and businesses. Thus, there is need for updating a real time ratings system, particularly one that is based on specific, verified transactions local to the consumers.